Not when the Brumbies raced to a five-try lead after 19 minutes. Nor when the Crusaders fought back, fraying nerves with each try.

Certainly not when the home team held on late. And when you watched his face when the hooter sounded, Brumby-land may as well have been the Bahamas.

"It was incredible," Ashley-Cooper says.

"I remember the relief of the players after the game . It was such an intense 80 minutes. It was just pure relief and a real mixed bag of emotions. Some blokes were crying, some were cheering. Back in the rooms it was just pure party, so much excitement."

"All you want to do is contribute and be a part. Sitting on the sideline in a suit, that's not contributing, no matter how many tackle pads you hold.

"As happy as you are for the playing squad, and the organisation and everyone else, you're not that happy with yourself. That was my first taste of being involved.

"Ever since then, knowing what the feeling could be like, from just that little taste, has really motivated me."

Which leads us to a cafe in North Sydney, eight years later.

Much water has passed under the bridge for Ashley-Cooper since. After seven Super seasons, two World Cups and 64 caps for his country, the boy from Ourimbah has become a bona fide Australian rugby star.

But still that feeling - that true feeling - of a Super Rugby victory has eluded him.

It eluded him year after frustrating year at the Brumbies, whose halcyon days appeared to decline after 2004 and they haven't made the finals since.

Now the feeling has pulled him up the Hume Highway after he made the decision to move to the Waratahs over summer in the hope that success can be more easily attained wearing sky blue.

"I love winning," Ashley-Cooper says. "I am very, very competitive and I will do anything to win. I just felt the Waratahs were the best chance for that to happen."Ashley-Cooper will begin his life as a Waratahs player tomorrow night against Queensland at ANZ Stadium.

It is the sort of big game - a clash between two teams who are tipped to make the finals - that Ashley-Cooper thrives in. It has been a long time between drinks.

For several years, Ashley-Cooper concedes he has lived a double life; playing naturally for the Wallabies half of the year but struggling to find his best form in Super Rugby.

When his contract came up for renewal with the Brumbies last year, it was a conundrum that needed serious thought.

"I look back on my last couple of years of Super Rugby performances and personally my last strongest year was 2007," Ashley-Cooper says.

"Last year was an all-time low for me in terms of Super Rugby. I felt like things down there weren't working for me.

"I needed to move in order to get back to my best Super Rugby form.

"You could see the difference in not only culture but environment and performances once I got to the Wallabies. I would become myself again. I had to look at that."

After those early, heady days at the Brumbies, the importance of culture was ingrained into Ashley-Cooper's rugby mind. It's a hard thing to define, he explains, but easy to spot when it's off.

"It's about connection to the blokes around you, on and off the field," Ashley-Cooper says.

"I experienced a very strong, positive culture when I first entered Super rugby at the Brumbies.

"With the likes of Greegs (George Gregan), Bernie (Stephen Larkham), Stirlo (Stirling Mortlock) ... all these Wallaby big dogs in a franchise that was leading this culture. It was nothing but ultimate respect for everyone.

"Over the years the way the game changed, the more professional it became, and the more of a business it became, the culture had changed and it wasn't what I expected it to be."

It's fair to say Brumby-land wasn't a happy camp early last year. Relations - and, crucially, communication - between senior players and then-coach Andy Friend had effectively broken down before the season had begun.

It would lead to Friend being sacked two weeks into the season, and Tony Rea stepping in as interim coach. Ashley-Cooper's name was the only one mentioned in the press by Brumbies boss Andrew Fagan as a senior player who was involved.

"I was a bit upset by it," Ashley-Cooper says. "I was amongst a mix of players but because I was the player representative on the board down there, it was my name that was kind of hung out to dry."

The Friend situation was never personal, he adds. It was simply a best-interests-of-the-team situation that needed resolving.

"It was nothing against Friendy as a person. At all," Ashley-Cooper says. "He is one of the best blokes you'd ever meet. It was just his approach in coaching that didn't sit well with the team."

Negotiating his contract at the time, Ashley-Cooper surprisingly says that being made the scapegoat didn't play into his decision. With an offer from NSW, he looked north and saw something he liked: a strong bond. A tight culture.

"I have a lot of close friends at the Waratahs but from an outsider looking in, with all the expectation and all the pressure that Sydney has, it seemed the playing group of the Waratahs was really tight," he says. "And you could see that in their performances."

Experience under the spotlight as a Wallaby convinced him the Sydney pressure was bearable, and the move made more sense by the day.

With partner Pip based in Sydney, and his family too, the decision was made to leave the safe Brumbies cocoon and shake up his career with a big change.

Ashley-Cooper's teammates will line up to tell you his move to Sydney was all about getting closer to the social scene in a big city. He and fashion personality Pip are often spotted in the social pages of the paper.

"I cop that a lot. The first thing you learn early on is do not bite on any of that," Ashley-Cooper says.

"It's a good gee-up. I suppose it's a sign of welcome, you could look at it that way."

He grins and leans in conspiratorially.

"I know the boys secretly love it anyway," he says. "The first thing they do when they get the paper, they skip the sport and go straight to the middle: 'Where's Swoop?'."

The smile back on Ashley-Cooper's face is a promising sign for Waratahs fans.

One of the classiest athletes in Australian rugby when in his prime - and one of Robbie Deans' first-picked backs - a firing Ashley-Cooper is needed this year.

NSW have lost the best fullback in Australia, Kurtley Beale, but have the luxury of calling in the man seen as the country's second best.

And while Ashley-Cooper hopes that joining the Waratahs will help him rediscover his peak, Tahs officials are hoping his influence will bring it out in others at the club as well. That is particularly so now that injury has already stripped NSW's backline of the 115 Test caps owned by Drew Mitchell, Berrick Barnes and Lachie Turner.

Ashley-Cooper is up for it.

"The whole change in facilities, in the city, the culture, new blokes around me, new coaching - it's so satisfying. It is something I haven't experienced in a number of years," he said.

News.com.au's Privacy Policy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted content and advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.